(mis)diagnosis by Leanne Moden

A large tree in the middle of green woodland. Large white text reads: (mis)diagnosis. Smaller text reads: Discussing disabled characters in fairy tales and folklore.

A curse is far more potent than a wish;
a mirrored surface, tarnished with regret.
You cannot counter misery with bliss
when treatment is a thinly-veiled threat.

A curse is envy in another guise;
a copper-coated weight inside your gut.
Sometimes the absence is the greater prize
and that which once was open must be shut.

A curse can be a masquerade of hope:
a shifting silver slither of belief.
We are the patterns in kaleidoscopes;
we twist and turn to circumvent our grief.

Infinity is malice, only worse.
A lie provides the kindness in a curse.

---

Originally published as part of the 28SonnetsLater poetry project in 2019.